The Split is the second scenario of the El Dorado campaign in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten.
Intro[]
April, 1541 - Our men raided a small village today on the foothills of the mountains. Don Orellana came back to camp with a captive, a man named Delicola. Delicola could communicate with our Inca charges and is willing to take us into the depths of this land. He confirms our stories that there is indeed a Pais de la Canela. When asked about the City of Gold, he tells us the land of cinnamon is a province that fuels the riches of El Dorado. He tells us enthusiastically of these territories... almost too enthusiastically.
June, 1541 - This forest is unimaginably large, and I suspect it is bigger than Espana and New Castille combined. It is easily navigable, however. The lands of the Incas were not suited towards horses yet. Here, it is as though the trees have cleared a path for us. We have heard a few tales of Alejo Garcia, a Portuguese explorer whose expedition disappeared approaching this jungle from the east. A few of our allied Inca generals told us about an attack on their southern lands, led by a man similar to us. This man may have been Alejo Garcia. Delicola claims Garcia is alive, or perhaps his son.
September, 1541 - We are forced to rely more and more on native allies for help. The ones we encounter show great skill in woodworking, building large palisades quite easily. It is clear now that some of the massive trees reaching out from the forest are actually watchtowers, and I can see massive hills in the distance with smoke and fire coming from them. The trees must have been cleared by them to form roads. We may find this empire of gold after all.
Players[]
Player[]
- Player ( Incas)
Allies[]
- Chief Vicaquirao ( Incas): The chief of the native village El Barco, himself residing in the village while having a Monastery in the north.
- Friendly Natives ( Incas): Consists of three villages in the west bank of the Amazon River, and also possess the Villagers and chief of Imara until Imara is conquered. Each of the three villages would give the player a task to do, before they could share some information about the landscape. The southern village, nearest to Imara, would request to bring them a javelina for them to kill for food. The central village, nearest to the Hostile Native village, would request to defeat the hostile village. The western village, furthest from Imara, would request to help them bring back 12 Llamas into their broken pen (made of Palisade Walls) and fix their broken pen.
- Spanish ( Spanish): A placeholder player possessing the player's units whenever the player is not allowed to use them.
Neutral โ Allies[]
- El Barco ( Incas): Located in the northeast, south of where the player starts. The player is to destroy their towers to force them surrender. They will give the player a villager to go to the nearby storehouse (a Trade Workshop) to get the materials for building a ship (he would turn into a Trade Cart) and he is to go to the hostile village in the east to get the stolen sail before returning to the trade workshop in the village. The player will have to build a Dock at this village.
- Imara ( Incas): Located in the south, and would first resist the player with Canoes. Then the player must enter the village and kill all the military units to force them surrender, and the player will take over the entire village except the palisade walls and gates.
Enemy[]
- Hostile Natives ( Incas): The main enemy of the player, controlling a big village in the northwest, a small village in the east, and have various soldiers scattered over the eastern part of the map, east of El Barco. They do not actively attack the player unless provoked.
Strategy[]
The player starts with a team of Conquistadores under Gonzalo Pizarro, Francisco de Orellana, and Delicola (a Plumed Archer) at the northern corner of the map, now in deep Amazon rainforest in search of El Dorado, having to rely on natives. As they are moved southwards to the riverside, a few Fishing Ships of El Barco are spotted, hinting that the village is nearby. Pizarro, Orellana, and Delicola must survive, and Delicola must be treated with great care, as he is not a hero unit therefore being unable to heal himself.
As the player reaches El Barco, the player only needs to destroy all the towers (Sea Towers) to force them surrender. While the player may easily eliminate the soldiers, Kamayuks are a great threat towards the Conquistadores, which are mounted units. Once the towers are destroyed, the chief, Vicaquirao, will surrender and agree to assist the player in the quest.
The player is to get ready for building a ship to cross the Amazon River, but need to collect the necessary materials. El Barco would provide the player a villager to collect the materials from the nearby storehouse (a Trade Workshop), northeast of El Barco. However, the player will encounter hostile natives, and they are heavily guarding the storehouse.
It would be a better choice not to immediately proceed to the heavily guarded storehouse, but go southeast and fight those who can be eliminated more easily, until the player reaches somewhere having a Monk who would immediately join the player. The Monk would be very useful to heal the player's units, especially when the player is going to deal with the enemies guarding the storehouse. Once the villager reaches the storehouse, he would turn into a loaded Trade Cart, and would learn that the sail, which is needed for the ship, has been stolen and kept elsewhere, which is a small hostile village in the east, where the sail has been used to make a flag there. Once the player eliminates all the enemies there, the Trade Cart may safely collect the stolen sail and return to the trade workshop in El Barco.
The player will receive woods just enough to build a Dock, therefore the player must only build a dock at El Barco before getting a Spanish Transport Ship automatically. The transport ship is loaded with four Conquistadores, and Orellana is to board on it and leave the rest. The player shall start bringing the ship to sail south along the Amazon River.
As the player keeps sailing south, the ship reaches a certain point where it is hit by a storm and flushed to the western shore of the river, at the corner near Imara. Here is where the player needs to be careful of a bug in the game. It is necessary that Orellana meets the chief of the Imara once the army is killed off. But if the player lets all men unload from the ship at the same time, Orellana will become an "ally", no longer controlled by the player. The key is to unload the men one by one. If the player does this, then Orellana will be under the player's control. And since he is a hero, the conquest will be easy.
All units in the ship are unloaded, and the ship is returned to the "Spanish". At this point, if Orellana is left behind elsewhere, the player loses the game.
As the player moves southwards, there would be Canoes from Imara resisting the player, but these can be easily taken down by the team of Conquistadores. Once the player enters Imara, the player is to kill all the soldiers. The player needs not to destroy any buildings, even though there are Watch Towers defending the village. Once the army is crushed, the chief of Imara would surrender, and the player would take over the whole village except the Palisade Walls and Gates and the chief himself. The player shall begin fulfilling more quests to learn more about the landscape, while gathering resources and building up an army at Imara. Orellana would need to personally approach three friendly villages.
The nearest friendly native village in the northwest of Imara would request to bring them a Javelina so that their villagers could kill it for food. The player should just send a villager to lure the javelina into this village with a hit-and-run strategy. However, the player must beware not to kill the javelina, or else the game would be lost.
The friendly village in the north of the village mentioned above would request to destroy the hostile village in the north of them.
The furthest friendly village in the west would request to bring their 12 lost llamas from the wilderness into their broken llama pen, which is made of palisade walls. Then the player is to fix the llama pen by simply adding a piece of palisade wall. Therefore, it is very important that the player should not simply kill llamas no matter what, and the player would lose if there are 7 llamas being killed. However, there are more llamas in the northern hostile village's pen, which can compensate for any killed llama in the wilderness. The player should be careful when releasing these llamas, as the hostile village may lure them to their Town Center and use them for food.
Outro[]
November, 1541 - I had suspected Delicola of mischief, and unfortunately I was right. He abandoned us a few nights ago, yelling something about besting Pizarro and saving his people from destruction. He must have heard of the conquest of the Inca and thought Gonzalo to be Francisco. Speaking of Gonzalo, we have been separated from him by the river currents. So here we are, stranded with many sick and dying men on our two ships on this sweltering and grand river with jungle on either side of us. I pray the Lord have mercy upon us and deliver us... maybe I should pray that the Lord inspire Don Orellana.